Since George Washington, Americans have observed the peaceful transfer of power between newly elected presidents and their predecessors, but this election cycle may be unlike no other for many reasons, including the transfer of digital power.

On Jan. 20, 2017, the transfer of power between President Barack Obama and President-elect Donald Trump will go beyond handing over the Oval Office: the official presidential Twitter account will also be exchanging hands.

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@POTUS, first used by President Obama, and its 11.4 million followers will be transferred to Trump. Good thing he knows a thing or two about Twitter (he actually has more followers). But his bursts of 140 characters have been characterized as brash and controversial.

Such a beautiful and important evening! The forgotten man and woman will never be forgotten again. We will all come together as never before

The digital transfer is unprecedented in the United States since President Obama is the first "social media president," having been the first to use a presidential twitter account, dive into Facebook live from the Oval Office and answer questions on YouTube, according to the White House.

As promised on Thursday in his first meeting with Trump, Obama said his administration is working to ensure a smooth transition, which includes the peaceful transfer of social media power.

The White House provided these three goals on its blog:

Preserve material with the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA); including tweets and snaps

Wherever possible, materials will continue to be accessible on the platforms where they were created. (Obama will get new account. See below).

Ensure that the next president and administration can continue to use and develop the digital assets

On Twitter, the @POTUS will be made available to Trump on Jan. 20. The account will retain its 11-plus million followers, but it will get a clean slate. As a prolific Twitter-user, Trump will likely have an empty timeline filled up in no time.

As far as Obama's previous tweets? They will be stored on a new account, @POTUS44, and maintained by NARA. The tweets will also be kept by the National Archives.

Similarly, on Instagram and Facebook, the incoming administration will gain access to the White House username, URL, and retain the followers, but will start with no content on the timeline.

The White House's We The People website has more than 12 million verified users that have created more than 470,000 petitions to their government on the issues they care the most about.

The government also hopes to publicly share social media content in a comprehensive way, including easy downloads of data.

Anyone with questions about the social media undertaking can follow @WHWeb for updates on the process.